Berlin Wall
The trouble with communism began with Plato
The elite guardians of his envisioned Kallipolis, where private property was banned, were protected by auxiliaries who sound not dissimilar to the KGB or the Stasi
How podcasts have transformed radio
As if on cue, Lemn Sissay’s new series for Radio 4 tackles all those questions we would rather ignore in…
I’d rather live under communism than the tyranny of social media
At the time it felt like a century, but it was only 12 years. I began this column in 1977…
General de Gaulle’s advice to the young Queen Elizabeth
There were so many ear-catching moments in Peter Hennessy’s series for Radio 4, Winds of Change, adapted from his new…
Portrait of the week
Home The government, expecting a backbench rebellion over the European Arrest Warrant, did not present it for a separate vote…
Long life
Last Sunday night 8,000 illuminated balloons, tethered along eight miles of Berlin’s former inner-city border between East and West Germany,…
Real life
‘Question 2. In which year did the Berlin Wall come down?’ shouted the quizmaster. And then he repeated this with…
